Harry Potter and all of its characters belong to J.K. Rowling.
I own nothing but the original characters I create.
Chapter 47: The Enemy of the Snakes
"Look, it's James. Over here!"
"Shh! Lower your voice, Alice. We're in a library," Lily scolded her friend.
Alice frowned. "Yes, I know where we are."
James saw his two classmates calling for him from a nearby table and decided to approach.
"Hi!" Alice greeted him with enthusiasm.
"Hello, James," Lily's greeting was more contained, as she was mindful of library rules, but her expression made it evident that she was happy to see him. "Are you here for another book about potion ingredients?"
"Actually, yes, I'm looking for something like that," he replied. He had already visited the library a few more times since his first encounter with Lily there.
"Do you need help finding a book?" she offered.
"I appreciate it, but there's no need. I already know where the books on the subject are located," James responded. Mostly, he didn't want to tell her that he was researching troll bogies.
It was unfortunate, but he needed to use those for his latest request, and it wasn't something he was too familiar with.
"Oh… okay," Lily looked a bit defeated.
"Why don't you come sit with us after you find your book?" Alice decided to give her friend a bit of help.
"Mmm… alright," James agreed. It would be too rude to refuse again.
He made sure to read the information he needed while standing near the shelves before picking a different book to bring to the table.
As expected, the moment he placed the book down, Lily became interested in what he was researching.
"So, what are you… Most Venomous Plants from Around the World?"
"It's just for educational purposes. I don't plan on using any of these anytime soon," James assured Lily.
However, he did need to use one ingredient featured in this book. The Essence of Venomous Tentacula he had recently received was the last ingredient for one of his major experiments.
'I should be able to conclude that one during the Christmas break,' James guessed.
"I know what you mean. I sometimes also read about stuff that won't be covered in class. You know, some light reading for fun," Lily chuckled.
Alice rolled her eyes. "I've seen your 'light reading'… those books are heavy enough to crush a first-year student." She turned her eyes to James. "And now we have James doing the same… I don't know what to say."
"By the way, James, how's your arm? We heard some rumors about how you got hurt in class yesterday." Lily asked.
'I doubt that's all the rumors said,' James thought. He hoped that at least Bella hadn't been given too much of a hard time after publicly helping a Gryffindor. But he somehow doubted that.
"Right! You were hit by some invisible horse or something. How's that going?" Alice added.
James lifted his left arm in the air. "As you can see, I'm perfectly fine. The bone was just fractured, so the nurse had no trouble repairing it." That was, of course, after he took two drops of his concentrated healing elixir. Had he taken one more drop, there would have been nothing for the nurse to fix.
"It was a thestral," Lily corrected her friend. "I've read a bit about them, and they're considered very dangerous creatures."
"Why would the teacher use them for class, then?..." Alice wondered.
"It does seem a bit reckless…" Lily didn't like to say bad things about the teachers, but she had to admit that this one in particular seemed questionable.
"I'm so glad I didn't pick Care of Magical Creatures," Alice huffed.
They were both polite enough not to question him about his relationship with Bellatrix Black or about what the rumors were saying about them.
A bit over two hours later, the three of them were leaving the library together.
"We should hurry. Dinner time has already started, and I need to stop by the common room to drop these books off first," Lily said while rushing her steps.
"And whose fault is that? Miss 'I can't decide which book to take with me!'" Alice mimicked her.
"It's not my fault they only let you take one book at a time!" Lily clutched the book she had chosen.
It was a large, dusty tome about the history of the school.
James was very familiar with that one.
"Mmm… aren't the halls too quiet?" Alice stopped to look around for a moment.
"That's because everyone must be at the Great Hall already. So, all the more reason to hurry," Lily responded.
"No… Alice is right," James said. He could feel something eerie in the air. He may not be a soldier, but after traveling the world for decades, he had faced enough dangers to develop a sort of sixth sense for trouble.
James' wand appeared in his hand, and just a moment later, he saw a spark of red light traveling directly at them. "Protego!"
He blocked the stunning charm with his shield.
This alerted Alice and Lily, who turned around to see who would be crazy enough to fire a spell at them.
"Our business is only with Potter. You two can leave."
They heard a male voice speak in a threatening tone.
From the dark corridor, several shadowy figures emerged. They had their faces covered with hoods, but their robes were from the school, revealing they were students.
And their green ties also told them which house they were from.
'Looks like the Slytherin house has a grudge against me,' James thought.
It was hard to tell their motives since he had already several confrontations with students of that house. Then there was the prank and his questionable victory during the quidditch game.
He never intended to become an enemy of that house. His biases against the Slytherins had long been left in the past. But it appears that even without trying, he was bound to face confrontations with the house of the snakes for as long as he stayed in Hogwarts.
"Cowards, at least show your faces!" Alice frowned.
"We know you're Slytherins… why are you attacking us?" Lily looked worried, but she held her wand with a firm grip.
"As I said…" The one at the front spoke first. "Our business is only with Potter, but if you want to stay, you'll suffer too."
"W-wait, this wasn't…" One of the other boys began to whisper to the one who looked like the leader.
James noted the long black hair on the second boy, and that, combined with the few words he heard him say, was enough for him to guess the identity of one of their attackers.
"Severus Snape… are these your new friends?"
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